Week 4

After watching a film on WWII, the subject of slavery and mistreatment of the Jewish race was what I related in my mind to the Imperial Harem.  The struggle of sons and wives of the Sultans were a main point and exclamation in the book, but i feel it was the concept of slavery that I found the most relevant to current issues.  Any war into the present is usually spawned from some sort of racism.  I find it so amazing a civilization such as the Ottomans had such a different approach to slavery.  

Some people argue the fact that should the term when referring to the Ottomans "slaves", should even be the word slave.  I disagree with this opinion because no matter how well or better off these slaves were under Ottoman rule they were still slaves and did not have what I consider freedom.  The idea still of the treatment of these slaves was incredibly different that western and even most european civilizations.  I think the reason the Ottomans may have treated their slaves and workers so differently from western cultures is because the Sultans were clever and realized this was their best bet at avoiding a riot and full on revolution from captured peoples.  The United States history shows very well the process of mistreatment of slaves and the path of a revolution that follows.

Week 3

During the third week of class a main topic was the Ottoman Empires political administration consisting of Sultans, Grand Vizier and other ministers, slaves, the bureaucracy, the Army, Ulema, and appointed Governors.  Another interesting thing we discussed was how the heirs of Sultans were trained and raised.  The Sultan usually had many wives had had many sons to potentially carry on the Sultans throne.  The boys eventually grow up and fight to the death to control their fathers position.  This may sound very gruesome but when you learn how the children were raised, this act of slaying seems less tragic.  The individual sons of the Sultan lived with their mother away from their other brothers.  They do not interact of live closely with their other brothers who eventually they must kill if they want to assume their fathers role as Sultan.  This is an excellent way to deal with the heirs of the Sultans throne.  By having no competition once a Sultan is choses the other heirs are all dead so their is no internal struggle for power and the Sultan can focus on the tasks at hand such as an enormous campaign to expand and strengthen the Ottoman Empire.

Week 2

During classes on the second week we learned a lot about the expansion of the Ottoman empire.  They seemed unstoppable and unopposed in power as they spread deeper into European territory.  Its fascinating to learn how the Ottomans eventually concurred the Byzantine Empire but more interesting, how this spread across such vast amounts of land influenced the people living in the Ottomans patch.  One of the unique aspects of the Ottoman empire discussed was the way they handled slavery.  I thought it was incredible that during the rise of the Ottoman empire, the western cultures had similar traditions such as slavery but followed extremely different rules.  For example, unlike western slavery many high officials in the Ottoman empire were slaves.  Slaves were not the lowest of the low in society.  Many slaves owned land and became very wealthy.  Also when lands were concurred, slaves were able to be part of the plundering and gaining of wealth as long as certain debts were paid to their Sultans.  This treatment of slaves really seems like an important aspect of the success of the Ottoman empire. 

Week 1

The first week of class, my classmates and I watched a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the film depicts the origins of the dispute, as well as giving examples about why the American occupation has only delayed resolving the situation. It is believed that many upper class Americans don't understand about the struggles people are facing in the Middle East; they just need to realize the exploitation of  recourses and for the future development of their companies and profits.  Anyone who believes in justice and the freedoms of others, moreover that all people are created  equal should consider the role journalism, and how it plays an important piece for society in spreading the truth, self awareness. The film was a good eye opener for those who don't know much about Islam, and will hopefully  motivate them to want to research the struggle and have a better understanding of global issues.  Moreover, the film showed that globally and economically the actions in the Middle East effect everyone; we are all effected.

I'm really looking forward to this class, learning about the connections between these three different religions will be a new experience and also I find the way that Islam has spread around the world, creating its own unique traditions, as well as the conflict between Palestinian Israel. 

-Eric &*rz